Partners
by 13alex
Summary: Ron and Shego working on MerCo as merceneries, or arms for hire, to be more exact.
1. Chapter 1

**_A\N This is my new long-running series. Updates won't be regular, as my main focus still on Wicked Bonds. This story will be a mix of slice of life and adventure, with a LOT of cameos and crossovers from other media, like a certain character in this chapter who i borrowed from another awesome cartoon show. Some of you might recognize that idea, since i partially used it in my other RonGo fanfic, but don't worry, this is its own separate thing. Hope you'll like it!_**

 ** _READ AND REVIEW._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible._**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 1_**

 ** _Unusual team_**

* * *

Shego stood before the most bland and unassuming building she ever saw. There was no signs, no markers, and it was covered all around by other tall structures, leaving one small alleyway leading towards it. After all, it was meant to be hidden. Not many people knew about actual location this place, outside of the people who worked here, but many people in underground world knew about what it was.

"No use of stalling this." Shego mumbled, moving her hand to the cold handle, pulling it down.

After a short stroll through the dark hallway, she stepped into a spacious room with marble floor, several giant screens hanged on the walls around, several sofas and coffee tables, a vending machine and a single circular desk at the farther wall. A woman stood in perfect posture behind it. She had brown hair, tied professionally in a bun, with two bangs framing her face, grey eyes, hidden slightly behind big circular glasses, and a strict brown and dark green suit.

"Hello and welcome to MerCo." she said unemotionally. "How can i help you?"

"Hi, i'm here about my application…"

"Name?" strict-looking woman cut her off.

"Shego."

"Is it your full name?"

"Yes, I changed it legally a long time ago."

After several quick stokes on the keyboard, the woman at the desk pulled out a plastic card and two copies of the document from under the desk.

"Your application was personally reviewed and approved by Mr. Blackstone. All we need is you signature on the bottom of this contract, one copy will stay with us. The other one will be handed to you. MerCo strongly recommends for you to get acquainted with the contract beforehand to avoid unnecessary legal issues."

After reading carefully each passage of the document, and getting ensured it wasn't a scam, she signed both papers, and handed them back to the woman at the reception desk.

"Good. I officially welcome you as part of MerCo now. My name is Zhulia Moonski, here's your employee id card, it contains your basic data and rank. As a newbie you start as rank E. Every mercenary below rank B must have a partner in order to take missions from our board. You can either leave your info on the current free agents list for other mercenaries to contact you, or look at the list yourself to contact anyone you want to team up with. Any questions?"

"Can i call you Zhuli?" Shego tried to ease up the conversation.

"Absolutely not." woman answered with same stoic face.

"I see. So, is there no way for me to do some missions solo? I am capable, your boss surely checked my history when he got my application."

"I'm sorry miss Shego, but rules are rules, and you abided by the contract, that you've just read, to follow it."

"Let me guess, it's really a precautionary method of controlling a bunch of mercs, right? I mean, if one guy'll get cold feet, or do something that breaches your contract, the other one would rather rat him out to safe own skin, and vice versa."

"That is right."

"And what if both of them conspire in their own interests?"

"MerCo will know about it anyway, it'll just take us a bit more time than usual. B rank mercenaries are picked only from the most trustworthy employees."

"OK, about the whole partner thing, do i choose one permanently, or it's per mission kinda deal."

"Both. Some prefer to have different partners for different missions, some prefer to stick to the single partner for a long-term. It's up to you." Zhulia handed her a tablet computer. "Here's the list. If you'll need help to find or put information, please ask me."

After founding her way to the nearest sofa and putting her legs comfortably on the coffee table, much to Zhulia's disapproving look, she began to look into the list. A variety of different skills and specialty fields were stunning. No wonder some preferred to choose different partner for different missions. However that is not what Shego was looking for. Honestly working with so many people sounded like a pain, she used to work for many villains in the past, and sticking to one idiot was a bit less stress inducing than working with many. She needed somebody to not get in her way, until she's allowed to go solo.

Scrolling down the list, one photo caught her attention, jogging her memory. Young man, blond, big ears, brown eyes with freckles underneath. His face looked a bit different from what she remembered, less round, with more prominent jawline.

"No way!" she exclaimed checking his info for a name. "It's the Buffoon!"

Just to be sure, she checked the rest of the list for the certain redhead, since they usually come in a package, but found nothing.

"Hey Zhuli." Shego ran back to the receptionist's desk.

"It's Zhulia." she corrected her in a stoic way.

"Does this guy really work here?" she pointed at the list entry in question.

"Yes, if he's on the list, he does work for us. Mr. Stoppable became a part of MerCo a week ago. No mission was taken under his name, yet."

"Do you remember if he came to you alone or along with a redhead girl, Kim Possible?"

"He applied and got accepted by his own. There are no mercenary agents named Kim Possible in MerCo."

"I see!" Shego smirked, and copied the contact data into her phone. "This might be just what i need."

She returned tablet and walked out of the building, with her hand typing a message on a green phone.

 ** _Hey, found you on the list. Want to talk about teaming up for a mission, where can we meet?_**

The answer came less than a minute later with an address. Shen put it into her phone's GPS app, and went towards green Ducati EVO parked right outside.

~(=_=)~

Ron paced from one wall to the other in the cheap motel room he's been staying lately. It wasn't bad per se, especially for its price, bed was soft enough and sheets were changed daily. No TV though, and isolation was a bit lousy.

He checked the message on his phone again. Whoever person who sent it had wrote him back, telling to expect they'll meet at Ron's current location in an hour, and it was almost the time. A sound of motorcycle approaching could be clearly heard from his room. It stopped soon, presumably being parked, and was replaced by the sound of boots getting closer to the door. By the time somebody knocked, Ron's hand was ready to turn the doorknob.

"Hello there, Stoppable!" she let herself in, sliding past shocked young man with her lips stretched in a fake smile.

"Sh-she sheg…" Ron stammered, following her movements with pointed finger.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" she rested her rear at the corner of motel's undone bed, moving one leg on top of another. "Last time we met was before your graduation, I think? Wow, six years flies fast."

"Shego!" he managed to collect enough of his chaotically shifting thoughts to speak. "What… what are you doing here?"

"Meeting with my partner for a job, obviously." she kept her innocent demeanor and showed him a message on her phone. "Since today I am working at MerCo."

"YOU sent that?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

Instead of immediate answer, much to Shego's surprise, Ron took a deep breath of air, moving his palms downwards. tips of his fingers parallel to each other. His look shifted from panicked to serene, as he closed his eyelids. He learned by this age that at times like this it's better to go with clear head. Master Sensei's lessons weren't wasted on him.

 _"_ _Alright. Breathe in, breath out. Let's straight things out."_ he spoke in his head. _"Shego is here. Why? She said she's my MerCo partner for a job. It is good, because I need a job. It is bad, because it's Shego and she's bad."_

He opened his eyes, catching her slightly bewildered look. She was a bit different from when he saw her last time, but just a bit. There were slight changes, like couple small wrinkles at the corner of her eyes, and somehow even more defined, but still athletic, figure. However her most noticeable change was a narrow white strip of hair on the right side of her bangs.

 _"_ _She looks good though… That is bad too. Don't let gorgeous villain use you, you are your own man now."_

"No, not at all." he smiled, speaking and calm soothing voice. "I'm sorry, for a freak out, but you understand, considering our past and all."

"Ow, of course I do." her voice stayed the same, despite feeling uneasy from his sudden change of demeanor. "Now, let's get to business. How about, you let me do the work without any meddling, and we split the money 80 percent me 20 percent you, ok?."

"No."

"Great that settles it…" she clapped her hands, as his answer finally sunk in. "Wait, come again?"

"I said no, Shego. If we do the work, we do it together and rewarded fifty-fifty. Either that or you can look for someone else for a job."

She was expecting a bubbling buffoon. Insecure, loud and suggestible schoolboy she remembered from her run-ins with Kim Possible. But his voice showed confidence in his own words, not a single shiver, or uneven breathing. He was standing tall, looking right in her eyes, making her feel even more uncomfortable and, and also just a little bit intimidated.

"Listen, it's easy money for you, I even throw you a bone, seventy-thirty."

"Fifty-fifty, I do half of the work, or no deal."

"What is your problem here?" tired of him literally looking down at her, she jumped on her feet, with irritation boiling behind her eyes, and pseudo-friendly smile replaced with a scowl. "We both need a second person to do a job, and I basically wrapping it up for you with a pretty bow on top! Just be a good boy and accept it before lose my patience."

"Listen, I have to reasons not to accept your conditions." he kept himself calm and collected, despite her little outburst. "First, is that I'm trying to take my job at MerCo very serious. I'm tired of being stringed along and playing second fiddle. I'm not a sidekick anymore." as he said that he caught an amused look on his intruder's face. "And yes, looking objectively in the past, I do admit that I was mostly her sidekick now, just as much as you were Draken's."

That hit she sore spot in Shego, she was almost ready to verbally rip the guy to shreds, and probably afterwards physically as well, however she held herself long enough from that as Ron continued to explained his reasoning.

"Second reason is a bit less important, but crucial as well. Have you seen the awards for E missions? It's miniscule. If I agree on your terms I'll be living in a box in a week or so. That's why I only accept equal terms here. How about, we do our job together, as a team, this one time, and see how it goes."

A hand was reached towards her as she contemplated her situation here. In the end, she decided, one time couldn't hurt. She wanted to start her missions as soon as possible anyway, and she always could choose another teammate for the future jobs. She could tolerate this weird creature in buffoon's skin for at least today, she reasoned, after all, she endured working with Drakken for much longer.

"Deal." She sighed with discontent, and shook his hand.

As their hands separated, the tall confident figure before her instantly deflated. His shoulders slumped, eyes softened, mouth took a form of a goofy smile. It was hard to see, but young man was shaking slightly in his knees.

"Great!" he explained excitingly. "Looking forward to work with you today, Shego."

"Woah, back up." she stepped to the side, baffled from this back and forth transformation. "What the hell are you pulling here, Stappable?"

"What are you talking about?" he put one arm before at chest defensively, in fear of green beauty's explosive temper.

"This whole Jekyll and Hyde thing you just pulled off." she pointed at him accusingly.

"I kinda learned to be more assertive over the years, just something i picked up to better myself."

"Well, you definitely stood your ground there." she admitted.

"Thanks!" he beamed.

'It's like he was a whole different person.' she noted. 'Hope it's not another Zorpox deal. Heaven knows i'm not looking for that lunatic to come back.'

"So, shall we go to MerCo now?" Ron snapped her for disturbing thoughts and gestured towards the door.

"Yeah, sure sure. We'll take our bike. Oh, and also…" she smirked evilly. "I don't have extra helmet with me."

~(=_=)~

"Holy shit, you weren't kidding… Rank E missions suck!"

She stared at the big screen on the left wall, with a big E letter glued to its frame below, as lines of mission names and payment rewards was scrolling down one after another.

"Working on the kitchen, moving equipment, moving couch, gardening… Those are all odd-jobs."

"Yup, we are literally arms for hire."

"At least B missions sound better. Kidnapping, guarding, sabotage. That is what i'm good at, not dog walking."

"Who would pay five bucks for dishwashing?" Ron mused.

"Twenty dollars for grocery shopping."

"MerCo provides its services for a wide array of clients." Zhulia intervened to explain. "Some of them are not able to go out for one reason or another, usually because of different problems with a law, some are perfectly fine with a law, but got stuck in a situation with a time constraints and some are just lazy people with disposable income."

"Thanks Zhuli." Shego said teasingly.

"Please don't call me that." She answered in flat tone.

"Alright, if we take a job, let's take the one that pays best. That one, vermin catching/extermination, 100 dollars reward."

"Fine with me." Ron agreed.

"Zhuli, sign us up."

"Done. Here's the address." Zhulia printed out small piece of paper with info and put it on the reception desk. "And please stop calling me that."

"No promises!"

With a paper now held in between of her fingers she went back to her bike, with Ron hot on her heels. She started the engine, while her temporary partner sat behind her and locked his arms around her waist. He learned the hard way that she likes driving fast and reckless with many sharp turns, and having no helmet only make him more cautious. What he didn't know is that she drove this way on purpose, to get back at him for his unexpected behavior. She could feel how strong his arms were, as they hugged her waist so tightly, leaving a little to imagination. She had to admit, even if she hadn't really checked him out properly earlier, since in her head he was still the same boy from all those years before, but feeling his body pressed tightly to her back did raise her curiosity. The fact that she hasn't felt a man's or woman's touch for years didn't help the situation. Life was lonesome in solitary confinement.

"We're arrived." She said, bringing her vehicle to a halt nearby a large warehouse. "You can stop fondling me."

"To your information i wasn't fondling!" Ron felt offended by her accusation, while getting of her bike on shaking legs. "I am gentleman, thank you very much."

"Hey, you two there!" a middle-age man, with a blue Smarty Mart employee cap on top, paced hastily towards them. "Are you from MerCo."

"Yes sir." Ron answered to the man, finally getting his groove back. "We're here to take care of your vermin problem."

"Great, let's hope you can do it. Regular exterminators just running away, who knew one animal can cause so many troubles."

"One?" Shego asked. "What the hell are we dealing here?"

"No idea mam." the man tugged on his cap. "Slick's too fast for us to have a single good look. It trashes our goods and we can't do a thing about it. Boss told us to contact your organization if thing go out of our hands. We tried to catch it with bear traps even, it takes the bait without triggering it. You sure you two can handle it?"

"Pft please." Shego scoffed. "If anyone has experience with weird it's me and this guy over here."

"True that." Ron nodded.

"Here's something to keep this thing in." he picked up an animal cage with thick iron bars and handed it to Ron. "And good luck."

Another employee opened a door into the building with a card key, letting the team in. The spacious building was filled with high rows of stored crates and boxes. Some path ways was blocked by stacks of packaged items.

"We're gonna waste our whole day here." Shego grumbled. "Let's split up."

"Shout me if you'll find it." Ron said, disappearing in the nearest aisle.

'As if!' she thought. 'When i'll find the vermin i'm gonna take it out myself. Since i'll do the whole work, plus i drove him here, i'll just convince him that he basically did nothing and shake at least half of his part of the payment, maybe even all of the money if he'd feel extra useless.'

If it wasn't for her current financial, she might even give Ron a proper chance to prove himself, and shared the reward properly, but there was no way for her to pay her rent in time with rates like that. They got lucky with a 100 dollar job, only several of the others got barely up to 40 or 50 bucks, most of them was 20 and lower, and they weren't the only ones who took up the missions. That meant that she'll have to work her butt off to keep a roof above her head and having her fridge at least semi-full. Sadly, that meant either breaking Ron's spirit, or letting him go altogether and searching for a new dimwit ready to follow her and cut their part to her.

'There IS a third option.' Shego mused herself with an idea, scoffing almost immediately after. 'Hm…nah, that would never work'

Her train of thoughts got interrupted by something moving fast through the crates to her right side. It moved around, constantly out of sight. Stepping as silent as she could, she approached closer to the area the creature was in. One thing for sure, this vermin was really hard to keep up with, which started to annoy Shego. One moment it was to her right, the next second behind her, and after that over the other side.

"Gotcha!" she said in hushed voice, so Ron couldn't hear her, and leaped above stacked crates.

Shocked creature screeched loud, as Shego's relatively towering figure cornered it to the wall. Finally she got a good look at her target. It was an unnatural crossbreed, with body and ears of the bunny, but the beak and tail of platypus. The most peculiar however was the color of its fur: muddy red plaid.

"You are one ugly sin of nature." she said, doubting that there was anything actually natural about it. "Come on, come to momma!"

Instead of obediently following her orders, it spawned three blades from its tails and leaped forward, spinning around itself. Shego barely avoided this flying blender by doing a backwards bridge. Platypus-bunny continued spinning on, moving fast towards its hunter. All Shego could do at the moment is dodge the continuous onslaught of attacks, that was coming from all of the sides. Out of sheer frustration her arms was already flaming, ready to scorch the furry creature, but she didn't shoot it once, fearing setting the warehouse on fire, which would totally affect her payment.

All she needed is one clear hit, preferably without cutting herself, but the creature didn't give her that chance. As it kept its speed, one of the attacks came dangerously close to Shego's face, forcing her to step back. Unfortunately, her leg stumbled upon a coil of rope, making her lose her balance and fall right into it. Before she could get away, Platypus-bunny leaped to her, spinning, however, before it even came close, much to Shego's surprise and relief, a 10 kilogram pack of dogfood flew towards it and smacked the creature mid-air, right into the crates.

"What just happened?" Shego asked in confusion, standing up.

"I told you to shout me, didn't i?" Ron appeared nearby with slight irritation in his voice and carefully put now unconscious creature in the cage.

"Did you throw that bag?" she asked in awe.

"Yes i did, you're welcome by the way."

"Yeah, thanks, or, whatever…"

"Come on." Ron smiled and picked up the cage. "Let's finish this up."

'He did his part…' Shego thought as they went to the exit. 'I've found it, and he knocked it off. He earned his half fair and square… And if he didn't throw that thing i… Damn it. It looked heavy, buffoon did filled up nice over the years… He is useful, and looks like he got more competent since our last encounter… Maybe, the third option might actually work…'

"Here's your creature of indeterminate species." Ron smiled, putting the cage at client's feet. "It's not dead, merely unconscious."

"Well i'll be!" a middle-age man with a cap whistled. "Good job fellas. I'll call MerCo, and tell that you did a darn good job."

Client picked up the cage and walked towards his office, he had several calls to make, including animal control services. Ron meanwhile turned around, noticing Shego leaning on her bike, looking at him.

"Hey, Stoppable. You did fine there."

"Uhm, thanks…" he felt a bit bashful, since there wasn't even a hint of sarcasm in what heard. "You've found it, so i guess we both did great."

"True." she shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, since we did fine, i think i'd like to continue our partnership."

"Really?" Ron shined like a happy pup.

"Yes, but on one condition." she said, seeing his shine fading away a bit. "You'll have to live with me."

"Wait what?" young man was utterly confused.

"I can't pay my rent with current job rewards, and since you'll taking half of it, i'd like you to live with me and pay half of the rent. I have an extra room, but no furniture, so you'll have to sleep on a couch for some time…"

"So, you want to me to be your roommate, and a partner?" as he pronounced the words he realized the double meaning. "Work-wise i mean."

"Yup."

"Well, beats living in a motel."

"Great! Now, get on the bike, we might grab one or two more jobs today."

Shego started her engine, feeling his arms around her, and drove off towards MerCo. It was a new start for her, it was a new start for Ron as well. And, by chance or by fate, they were walking this new path together.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A\N Welp…good news –I'm not dead! I'm really sorry for this unplanned hiatus. Basically for the past couple years I had a total chaos 24/7 in my workplace, add some small but ever present health issues following one after another and guess what happened to my free time…yeah. Anywho, i still not sure if I'm able to post chapters on regular basis again, however I would try to update both of my current stories at least for couple more chapters this summer.**_

 _ **Speaking of this fanfic. This chapter would include some more cross-over characters adapted to Kim Possible universe. Some are more easily unidentifiable than the other. For those who didn't guess from what universe I put a certain couple characters in the last chapter, here's a strong hint: an animated Avatar. Zhulia and Mr. Blackstone a permanent additions to this story.**_

 _ **Anywho, who cares about author note anyway. This chapter was written BIT by BIT for the past 2 YEARS! 100 words on the bus here, 100 words in the store line there… Hope it turned out well…**_

 _ **READ AND REVIEW… please**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible.**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2**_

 _ **Cheesy with a side of bonding**_

* * *

Despite being pretty tired from her first day of work as mercenary-in name-but-actually-just-hands-for hire, Shego frantically ran around in her apartment, trying to clear some of the mess before her new roommate would arrive. Living alone, she wasn't really ready, or had any wish, to have guests, let alone inviting someone to live with her. Due to that, and being naturally lazy, the floor and furniture was littered with aluminum cans, empty plastic and cardboard packages and one or two unmentionables laying here and there. She had about an hour to clean all that mess up, while Ron was going back to his motel room to gather his, rather sizable, travel bag, which contained his belongings.

"Why am i doing this again?" she grumbled tossing an intimate piece of clothing into her bedroom.

Truth be told, she had a buffer cash stash that can easily sustain her for at least couple months. However, upon considering the low rewards for missions at her current rank and the fact that missions are actually limited in quantity and high on demand among same scrubs as her, she understood that in a long run she's going to need help in paying her rent. At least until she'll be promoted high enough to take solo work, which, it seemed, was far far away from her.

Roommate was a necessity at this point. And, when it comes to it, he wasn't really the worst option to be cohabitated along. She lived with her self-righteous brother back in a Go-city and with a doofus scientist Drakken on a various soon-to-be-blown-hide-outs. So, in general, she knew how to handle a buffoon in her life.

Of course, she had to call the landlord and ask her if Shego's _'friend'_ can temporary move in with her to help with rent, something she should probably do before offering this to Ron, however it was a spur of a moment decision. Thankfully, landlord was an understanding woman, and an ex-villainess herself, and had no objections to it. And since this apartment, by all rights and documentations, was still rented solely on her name, Shego could easily throw him away when she pleased.

"Hm…" she looked around living room, assessing her work. "Meh, should be fine enough for now. And still have a time for a shower… BATHROOM!"

A realization hit her skull like an arrow. The bathroom. It was almost as big of a mess as the living room half hour ago. The amount of different lady products scattered around and some clothing abandoned on the tile floor would certainly lead to some uncomfortable conversations.

"Oi." Shego sighed, looking at the mess. "I hope this is worth it. If not, his ass is so flying out of the window."

~(=_=)~

"I've found myself a place!" Ron said into his cellphone, as he was walking down the Lowerton streets, with his heavy travel back weighing down his right shoulder. "I met an, ehm, old acquaintance here, and she agreed to let me in as long as i cover half the rent. We work together. No you haven't met her before. No, Mom… come on, you know i am a gentleman! I would never… No, she's a very attractive woman… MOM! Not the point! SO NOT THE POINT…MOM! I know what i'm… I know what i'm doing… No i won't bring her with me next time i visit… Yes i'm talking back i'm a grown man now… Anyway, say hi to Dad and kiss Hana for me. Bye."

Ron let a heavy sign putting his cellphone back into his jeans' pocket. His mother could be really tiresome sometimes. Especially when it's comes to his love life. The amount of _'nice jewish girls'_ she tried to introduce to him within last couple of years were at least over a dozen. Every time he visited his childhood home Mrs. Stoppable goes on and on about someone's daughter his age. Truth be told, Ron Stoppable was out of the dating scene for some time now, and wasn't in any kind of mood to go back to it.

In the heat of more or less one-sided conversation with his mother, Ron walked farther than he expected and, consequently, was now standing in a middle of an unknown to him street. Letting out a pitiful sigh, he moved an enormous traveling bag from his shoulder onto the dry walkway and searched one of its side pockets. A softcover palm size foldable map of the Tri-city soon was in his hands, with travel bag weighed his shoulder again. Now all he needed was some indication of where he was at the moment. Ron steadily walked down the street, looking for a street sign.

While searching for it, Ron's unintentionally witnessed a peculiar event unfold right before his eyes. He saw a tall man dropping his arm around, judging by a box-shaped bag, a delivery boy's neck and hastily dragging poor lad around a corner into the alley. Needless to say, it looked really suspicious. Ron walked into the same alley soon after, hearing voices coming from behind of big blue garbage container.

"Listen here, pal. I saw you delivering a big bag of pizzas to the party next block. I bet they left a mean tip." a burly man said, pinning boy to the brick wall with his arm. "So this is how it's going to go. You'll give me all money you have on yourself, quietly, and no one will be hurt. Capish?"

Scared teen, reached his shaken hand into his jacket's pocket, nervously trying to feel up his wallet. As he was ready to part with his hard earned money, a shadow behind the mugger distracted him.

"What are you looking at?" big man asked.

Before mugger could turn around, he felt a sudden push under his knees. The second the big guy lost his balance, his right arm got grabbed and pulled strongly enough to drag him away towards the opposite wall. Delivery boy, freed from the heavy arm, sled down along the brick wall.

"The hell?" mugger asked, regaining his posture.

"Hey, dude!" Ron smiled reassuringly at shaking teen. "Can you walk?"

"Uhm… yeah." Boy nodded.

"Ok, then…"

Before he could finish, in the corner of his eyes he noticed a sudden movement. Instantly his reflex kicked in, honed by his recent training at the certain japanese school far up in the mountains, making his upper body duck, barely avoiding incoming fist.

"Go!" Ron shouted, dodging the following attack, while keeping himself between two strangers.

Without a second thought, delivery boy grabbed his pizza bag and ran as fast as his weakened from shock legs let him.

"Now, mister, let's agree that what you tried to do was bad." Ron said, moving both hands forward, defensively. "And just go our merry ways, how about that?"

"Screw you!" mugger spat on the ground.

Ron continuously avoided slew of punches thrown his way, which was more difficult than he expected due to how narrow the alley was. As he got closer to any vertical surface, be that wall or garbage container, he dove swiftly under the attacking arm, switching sides with bigger man.

"Stop moving!" shouted winded mugger in aggravation.

"Ok."

Instead of avoiding an approaching fist, like every one before it, Ron caught it with his left hand mid-hit, and delivered a hard punch with his free hand right into the side of attacker's chin. Dazed mugger was staggering for couple seconds, before falling right on the pile of black garbage bags, unconscious.

"Booyah!" Ron exclaimed happily, while shaking his hurting right hand.

"Over here!" delivery boy ran back to the alley, along with two asian-looking guys in their early twenties wearing matching uniforms with a logo of local pizzeria.

"Is that him?" one of the guys asked pointing at Ron.

"No, he's the one who helped me!" teen-age boy corrected his co-worker.

"I think you're looking for this guy." Ron pointed at knocked out mugger.

"Wow!" delivery-boy looked at the scene in awe.

"Thank you for helping out our Pete. I'm Leo Hamato." one of the older guys, sporting short black hair, introduced himself, bowed to Ron.

"I'm Raph Hamato, his slightly older and much more handsome brother." other guy, who was a bit shorter than Leo, but wider in shoulders, gave Ron a fist bump.

"And I'm Peter." teenage boy, white, with brown unruly hair and round spectacles on his nose stood awkwardly. "Thanks for saving me."

"No big." Ron waved off, picking up his travel bag.

"New in town?" Raph asked cautiously.

"Yeah, and i got totally lost." Ron admitted, pulling out his pocket map. "Can you give me some direction here?"

"I can give you a ride." Leo offered. "Just tell me an address."

"Really?"

"You helped Peter, consider it our gratitude."

"Meanwhile, I'll get this trash to the police." Raph grabbed unconscious mugger by the back of his collar and dragged him away.

"I'll give you a ride home too, Peter" younger brother said to the teen. "You'll need a good rest after all this."

"Thank you, Leo." Peter said, feeling pitiful.

"My car parked near our pizzeria, follow me." Leo led the way, while pulling out his phone to type a message.

Mickey, make our specialty pizza, pronto!

~(=_=)~

Back at Shego's current living space, she was pacing impatiently inside the living room, periodically glancing towards the front door. Most of the place was properly cleaned up, with Shego herself sporting a fresh Adrea Lynn's t-shirt and sweatpants.

"The nerve on this kid! I swear if he ain't at my door in the next 5 minutes I'm dumping this partnership biz and his sorry ass…"

The chime of the doorbell interrupted her little rant. She approached the door quickly, in several large steps, jerking the doorknob a bit too forcefully. That, accompanied with clear irritation on her face, made the blond guy stand awkwardly before her in silence.

"You are late," Shego said, arms folded on her chest.

"Um…" Ron raised hands holding a warm pizza box. "Pizza?"

"You are late because you wanted pizza?"

"No! No no no. I got totally lost, then helped a delivery boy who was getting mugged, after that his coworkers came, and thanked me by giving me a ride here and this pizza. Ah! And also coupons."

"Is that all?" she asked, deciding between believing him or kicking him onto the stairwell.

"I think so." his brows came closer to each other as he was replaying recent events in his head.

"Fine. Come inside, hero." she exhaled, putting a bit of venom to the last word.

Couple minutes later, pizza found its place on the coffee table, Ron was sitting on the couch nearby along with travel bag resting near his feet.

"Let's talk buisness first." Shego entered the room with an empty plastic food container, placing it on an empty tv-stand. "Half of the everything each of us will earn at MerCo will go into this container. This is our rent and utilities money. Any objections?"

"Um, no?"

"Right answer." she nodded. "A good chunk of the other half of our earnings will go for food and other necessities. And considering current missions pay rate, we'll need to tighten our belts for a while, so to speak."

"Question!" Ron raised his hand. "Are we going to have any day offs?"

"One per week. Which day it is we'll choose later, depending on which one of them has less work for us."

"I can cook stuff on the day off to save us some cash. Do we have a Smarty Mart nearby?"

"You can cook?" Shego raised her brow in amusement.

"I have a culinary degree, just so you know." he said, sounding borderline offended by her reaction.

"Fine, master chief, don't get your panties in a twist. The kitchen is in the corner over there by the way." she muffled a short laugh, pointing at the doorway without the door. "Anywho. Until you can show me your impeccable culinary skills, we'll probably gonna have some take outs, those coupons you have might actually be useful."

"A little less snide would be appreciated." Ron grumbled.

"You room would be that one." ignoring his comment, Shego pointed towards the small room with mostly empty cardboard boxes lined at the left wall. "Like I said before, it doesn't have any furniture since I was planning to make a walk-in closet of it, so you'll have to bum on this couch for a while."

"Ok." Ron accepted this predicament, assessing the comfortability of the couch cushion under his butt.

"Door next to it is my room. Access to it is denied unless I myself gave you permission to enter. And, to be a fair roommate, once your room is habitable, same rules apply to me too."

"I do respect ones privacy." Ron tried to reassure her.

"I hope so, breaking the rules are punishable by pain." she lit up her hand with green flame, making it disappear only a second later. "Same rules apply to the shower and bathroom while in use. Also, each of us is responsible for clean up after ourselves. Any questions?"

"No, nothing I can think of." Ron shrugged.

"Good." She nodded approvingly. "Now, let's finish this with pizza, I'm freaking starving here. Go wash your hands first, mister. Soap is in the bathroom, green one. You can use blue towel on the stool there."

Shego hastily went to the kitchen, as Ron stepped into the tiled room. Just like the most of the local apartments, it contained both bathroom with shower and the toilet. Ron noted that as he was washing his hands under bath mixer, thinking about the way they'll have to schedule their individual visits to the room to evade awkward and possibly lethal for him situations.

Returning to the living room he noticed Shego, sitting on the couch, with couple plastic plates on the coffee table, next to the pizza, and two beer cans in her hands.

"You drink?" she asked, reaching one of the cans to him.

"Yeah, occasionally." Ron took the drink and opened the pizza box, breathing in the smell of sauce, cheese and cardboard.

Each of them placed a piece of lukewarm pizza on the plate, before taking a first bite.

"Mmm." Shego let out a slight moan. "That's some seriously good pizza!"

"Gwaif shosh!" Ron replied with his mouth stuffed with cheese and cooked dough.

"What?" she raised a brow in confusion.

"O." his jaw rapidly moved before a big gulp. "The sauce is great. I bet the make their own, instead of store brand."

"Anywho," Shego took another bite. "Can i ask a question of personal kind?"

"Sure"

"Why are you in Lowerton?"

"I heard from a friend that MerCo is opened up for business here and…"

"Nope, let me rephrase it, why are you here alone?"

"Because I'm a grownup who can travel alone?"

"Ow geez." Shego growled, pointing at him with a pizza slice. "I'm asking why are you here without the Princess to your hip?! You were a total item last time I saw you."

"Ah, that." Ron looked visibly uncomfortable. "Kim and I broke up."

"Say what now?"

"I'm surprised you didn't know, it was big news back in a day, though I guess nobody got my name right again…"

"I presume I was at my high security solitary at the time, surviving couple lethal wounds." she shrugged off.

"Lethal wounds?" Ron enquired, hoping to derail the conversation.

"I tried to double cross two dimwits, got double crossed myself. Got two bullets in me, one laced with poison, other dangerously close to some vital organs. If it wasn't for the rainbow comet powers i wouldn't last long enough for GJ folks to find me and patch me up. I looked like shit after that, all wrinkly and pale. GJ had to put me in this cosmic-radiation chamber to simulate effect of the comet, to keep me somewhat alive. Don't ask why they got one of those, apparently everything down to cafeteria's bread roll's recipe is classified nowadays. They got me to more or less stable condition and threw me into solitary. Still has this white strip in my hair as a reminder. Several years of confinement later… WAIT A MINUTE! This is not about me right now, we were talking about you and the Princess here."

"You know what, if you wanna know about my personal life, it's only fair you spill the beans first."

"You are SO dodging this." she smirked. "Also, what personal life? I was in a slammer!"

"What about Drakken, then?"

"What about Drakken?"

"Well, you looked cozy with him during our graduation and all."

An extremely ill-timed sip of the beer went directly into the wrong pipe, making her cough uncontrollably.

"Crap, *cough*" wheezing for air first, Shego made several deep gulps of beer, glaring daggers at her roommate in a process. "Listen here, buffoon, there is and was NOTHING between me and Drakken. It was his dumb flower power spreading pheromones like for the bees and stuff, but instead of bees it was working on me. Drakken caught on that during your graduation, since even he knows I wouldn't act like that unless I'm under some mind-control, like that one time with modulator, he fixed me up right after that dance party. We went our separate ways, since it was way too awkward and I haven't heard anything about him after that."

"But what about Barkin when you were…"

"My god…" Shego growled deeply. "One: my brain was scrambled, two: he actually was an undercover GJ agent planted to watch over couple teens who suddenly started saving the world out of the blue. It was NOT what you are thinking!" she answered with a speed of machine-gun shooting. "And three: STOP stalling and spill!"

"Really? An undercover…" he felt a skull-drilling gaze coming from an aggravated and now impatient woman. "Fine. I… I got dumped..."

"Obviously!" Shego exclaimed grabbing next slice of pizza. "Details, please!"

"Happened about a year after graduation. Kim called me, said we need to talk…"

"Let me guess, she found someone better?"

"Pff, as if!" Ron let out a hearty chuckle. "Kim would never cheat on somebody, her conscience would totally drive her mad, literally! Nah, the real reason was… much more awkward. She told me that the closer we were getting in intimate sense, the more she felt wrong about it. To paraphrase her, kissing me at that point was like kissing one of her brothers. "

"Ouch."

"Yeah. Since Kim was really confused about her feelings about me she broke up with me. Said it would only be fair to me, and she didn't want to hurt me. Needless to say I didn't take it well. So the drama. But, after a bit of traveling and a help from some very good friends I manage to get myself together, patch up my friendship with Kim, and, now I'm here, on this couch with you and pizza."

"I wonder, is Kim…"

"She's not gay." Ron immediately answered. "Honestly, it would be easier if that was the case."

"I guess it WOULD be better than «You like a brother to me» talk." She scoffed, gulping what left in her beer can in one gulp.

"It isn't as shocking to me anymore though." Ron answered, closing now empty pizza box. "We've known each other for the most of our lives after all. Still hurt like a bitch back then."

"Yeah, that would suAAhhh" Shego was suddenly interrupted by her own yawn. "Shit."

"Tired?"

"Guess I am." She answered while stretching her back. "Let's clean up this mess and get some rest for tomorrow."

"Sure." Ron got up from the couch, putting empty cans on the cardboard box.

"I'm setting the alarm for seven sharp." Shego tapped the screen on her phone. "If you're still asleep by that time, I'm gonna kick you from the couch."

"And what if YOU are asleep by that point?"

"Then knock my door loudly. Try anything else and you ass would be well-cooked." She answered before disappearing to the bathroom.

Ron, meanwhile, returned to the couch, trying to lie down as comfortably as was possible. His current predicament wasn't perfect, far from it, but still, he felt oddly fine with it. He wondered where this choice would lead him, and how far will he go. It didn't take long before sleep took him over. Hearing his soft breathing, Shego pulled up a cotton blanket from under the bed, and quietly covered him. Still feeling uncertain about her choice, ex-villainess shook her head, and quietly walked to her room, closing a door between them.


End file.
